Engagement at Genesee Valley Park

Laura found us on Thumbtack, and it turned out we have a mutual friend! We are shooting their wedding next year in Avon, and we met to do their free engagement shoot at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester.

This was also the debut of my two new dream lenses, the Nikon 58mm f/1.4G and the Nikon 105mm f/1.4E. These are so expensive that I really never expected to buy them, but with next year's wedding season filling up better than I dared hope, I decided to upgrade to the best. This session was my first opportunity to take them for a spin.

Gillian's pose idea! This being our first couple's shoot, we made sure to do some good research ahead of time for inspiration.

The 58mm f/1.4G costs four times as much as the normal 50mm f/1.4G. Apart from the slightly different focal length, you're paying for Nano coating (more later) and a different optical design that prioritizes smooth bokeh and pleasing transitions from in-focus areas to blur. This is a good example of that... the leaves in the background are silky-smooth, and even within Geoff's face, the transition from sharp eyelashes to blurry chin is very gradual and nice.

This is the 105mm f/1.4E! At $2,200, you really have to want it, and I was so relieved to find it living up to the hype. We have the 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 from Tamron, which does find with these medium-telephoto shots. But the background, color, contract, and and shallower depth of field from the prime lens really make a picture like this "pop" in a way it wouldn't with the zoom. It's also much lighter than the zoom, which is nice for a walking session like this.

This is Nano coating at work! Everybody loves a nice back-lit picture like this, where the sun in the background washes over everything an gives it a glow. But normally the light from the bright area overwhelms the lens a little and gives the darker areas a washed-out, low-contract look with compromised details. In this pictures, the light has a great glow, but her face is still sharp, colorful, and "contrasty".

Get in touch to book your session today. Call Andy Bemont at (585) 590-0570, email andy@bemontphoto.com, or check out www.bemontphoto.com!